Man moves HC for losing mining rights during Covid

Kolkata: A Calcutta High Court vacation bench directed the state to submit a report in the form of an affidavit while restricting it from leasing a mining area to third parties in a case where the lessee’s right to extract sand and minerals got restrained due to Covid while lease extension was not granted due to a newly introduced Rule.

The bench of Justice Prasenjit Biswas was moved by the petitioner (lessee) who was extracting sand and mineral on the basis of an agreement signed in February 2017 with the state government. He was supposed to extract the minerals from the said area for five years upon payment of the bid amount which was supposed to expire on February 18, 2022. Meanwhile, COVID-19 pandemic broke out and he was restrained by government order from carrying out further extractions. The petitioner’s counsel submitted his client lost a substantial number of working days as he could not extract the permissible quantity of sand from the area as per the lease agreement which undoubtedly come within the purview of ‘Force Majeure’ clause in the agreement. Since he suffered financial losses and could not continue his business, he submitted an application before the Additional District Magistrate and District Land and Land Reforms Officer, East Burdwan for extension lease agreement period.

The counsel for West Bengal Mineral Development Trading Corporation Ltd (WBMDTCL) submitted there is no provision for extension in the new rule ‘The West Bengal Sand (Mining, Transportation, Storage and Sale) Rules, 2021’. The court directed against leasing out the property in favour of a third party till the instant matter ends in its logical conclusion. State to submit report when court reopens.